


Stronger Than I

by WhiteFoxKitsune (ProwlingThunder)



Series: All Hail The Queen [5]
Category: Invasion America
Genre: Alien Culture, Character Death, Female Cale, Ga'lim, Gen, Genderbending, Royal Crowning, Tyrusians, xenopolitics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-09
Updated: 2014-10-09
Packaged: 2018-02-20 11:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2427644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProwlingThunder/pseuds/WhiteFoxKitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt!Fill.</p><p>She hears about it first on her way to visit the neighbors-- and goes right back home. He goes with her, every step of the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stronger Than I

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZpanSven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZpanSven/gifts).



> Prompt: The Hundred Days of Mourning for Cale's Father

The day they heard the news was actually the easiest day there was of the whole thing.

The Princess kept her expression shuttered, though the bond thread he shared with her was heartsick and sore. Rafe pretended not to notice the hurt he knew was there, hidden behind a carefully crafted mask of gentle calm and soft sadness as he worked the knife carefully through silken locks. There were there were others watching, and so she could show no more then that, but she had insisted the duty of cutting her hair off belonged to him alone. The captain and crew could witness it-- and they did-- and that was fine. But she had turned to him and plucked a knife from his belt, and then handed it up to him.

But it still felt wrong to cut it. The Matriarch should be the one shearing off Cale's hair, not him. Though to her credit, Cale did not flinch, and said nothing about the callouses on his old soldier's hands. And they were so far out from home anyway, it wouldn't have been right to leave it long.

“My father is dead, Commander Hyrze.” Perfect poise, only a hair shaky. Rafe envied her that; hers was only news. There was a hallow, empty space in his soul where Naoko-Oosha had previously been attached, a sickly but strong thread, and he knew if he opened his mouth it would show. “Please have Steersman Atade return us home as soon as possible. I should mourn with our people.”

It took a set of seven days to get home.

When they arrived and Commander Hyrze escorted them off with his second, the Dragit was standing there to greet Cale, and that started the biggest decline Rafe had ever seen. The Dragit gave her condolences galore, showered her in attention to try to pick her up, and in general made for Rafe's consistent presence to be unbearable.

But the day the Matriarch put the crown on her head, and Rafe's own father handed her the Exotar, that was the day everything changed. Cale's whole bearing shifted, shoulders heavy with the weight she did not have to fight for-- Naoko had no other children, Rafe would have known if he had, but there was no one-- and heart still sick with loss that she was casting away.

The Matriarch threaded gossomer thin ropes into Cale's hair from the crown. Rafe glanced to where the Dragit stood in a place of honor, on Cale's other side, just a step more forward then he. The man was stotic.

Then the old Ga'lim turned and led Cale forward. Already Rafe could hear echos from below the balcony, chants of Cale-Oosha by the people. Leaders of the Priesthood followed them, and Rafe tried to coax his hackles back down. But Cale smiled at the people, spreading her hands wide, and the roar grew thunderous.

Rafe almost missed the sense of heartbreak from the Dragit. Except that it blindsided him so much it nearly knocked him over.


End file.
